I think it's more a matter of a limited selection of models in DAZ within any reasonable given budget. The creators already purchased the model, and it suits. There may not be another suitable model for DAZ at any price.
The combination of speech balloons, behavior, and chassis for Florence makes me wonder if there is some foreshadowing going on, or just the artist looking to add some additional variety. Recall that "Watchdog" was presented only in the context of a virtual avatar within CeCi's cyberspace, so presentation of her as a blend of non-sentient robotic and unexpectedly sentient personality made sense (to me at least) as an abstract concept presented in visual form. I don't think we can necessarily draw any inferences from the similarities between Florence's physical appearance and Watchdog's virtual appearance.
Florence's chassis doesn't match any of the examples from the tech pages. (But then, neither did Francine's.) The crudity of it, the open seams, and the very distinctive eyes all (in my opinion) argue for Florence being an advanced positronic robot. On the other hand, the distinctive colored speech balloon, clothing, complex dialogue and initiative suggest that she is a synthbrained android in a chassis that might be the equivalent of a model 2 or a model 3A -- in which cosmetics have been sacrificed for economy and utility.
There are many other possible explanations, but most of them would seem to depend on Florence somehow being 'special' in some unique way such that the general principles don't apply to her. Guess we'll just have to wait and see what is revealed. The argument against it being solely a tool-driven decision on the part of the artist is that it seems likely the artist had all the DAZ models used to build the Tech page in the first place available to her. ^_^ She chose this one instead.
Just read the hovertext.
Lynn should be a good friend and wait until she can watch those with Acantha. They already determined they share that interest.
Noctis looks good in civvies. She seems more relaxed too.
And this, fellas and gals, is why Anesthesiologists get the big bucks. They, in essence, put you in suspension so you don't feel pain and stay still so the surgeon can do his or her thing. Having gone under the knife myself, I can appreciate their skills. My hat's off to the dude who invented anesthesia too.
I remember the Anesthesiologist for my surgery. He was a dour man without much to say... but I also remember him being the only Doctor that checked in on me the night before surgery to make sure my spirits were up and in good shape.
In case anyone still thinks that the Canadian 'socialized medicine' system is still the way to go, when I needed emergency surgery it was delayed over 24 hours due to no anesthesiologist being available...in a major hospital that serves 40,000 people and is the only one in the area with any surgical capability...and coronary or other major surgery/radiation treatment/etc. is at least an hour and a half away. This is for the 'county seat' served by road, rail and air... I'd rather pay US health insurance premiums than 45% income tax, a 15% sales tax on what's left and then.... $125/month health insurance premiums (and another $125 dental insurance premiums) to cover what the 'socialist' system doesn't.
As they say, "The grass is always greener . . .", but the fact of the matter is, that those delays also happen with the inefficient for-profit US model. More cost, less care. Additionally, costs for private insurance are often actually more than that, just for premiums ($1500-2000 for comprehensive care family plan), without adding deductibles, hidden charges, and other direct out-of-pocket expenses. A lot of people can't even have health insurance without subsidies. More often than not, dental, eye care, hearing, etc, is completely separate.
A friend of mine has a brother-in-law who's an anesthesiologist who makes really good money. As he puts it, "I don't get paid to knock you out; I get paid to make sure you wake the hell back up again."
Well, that's an interesting look for Noctis. She wears it well though. She is understandably worried about getting her sword back.
Lynn is letting her impatience show. Both her and Noctis are concerned that Acantha is okay. Florence is doing a good job of allaying their concerns! She is a good use for this model . . fitting.
Sheela,that's mostly true. There was a lot of comments about putting her in pink lace and bows, which I really didn't think would happen. This looks a lot more suitable.
I was I impatient too, HiFranc, you are not alone! :)
I never claimed she would look *good* in a frilly outfit -- it would just be a lot of fun :-)
Actually she probably doesn't look really well in any outfit using light colours (including the one she is wearing now): black suits her complexion much better :-)
(Other strong colours -- such as a dark blue for example -- might work too, though.)
Hahaha, yeah I know people were messing around. :D Actually , I think she looks good in what she has on, I am just more used to seeing her in her black body suit.
Ok, third panel. The one of Acantha laying out. does it look a little off to anyone else or is it just me? It looks like her legs are REAAAAALLLLYYYY long compared to the rest of her body.
Unless that is a piece of medical equipment at the foot of the bed under the blanket.
Just a general artistic/modeling/rendering question... In the last frame, Lynn's shoulders look slightly raised/elevated from where they'd be in a relaxed position, and the body-to-shoulder crease looks high. (Not complaining or criticizing)... and I've seen this exact same issue in some of the character renderings in other comics and even some PC games, where it just looks like the joint is 'folded' kinda strange. Is that a limitation of the skeletal system or is that some other type of artifact?
Again- not criticizing or anything, quite curious as to what challenges are involved in the model construction/positioning and what fine-tuning options you have as an artist. :-)
Enjoying the strip. Keep up the good work! (Oh, and all of the puns, especially the egg ones... I never knew Tokyo Rose was such a punster!)
Lynn and Acantha, among other characters, are built on the base figure of Victoria 4*. Victoria 4 was designed with considerably better shoulder articulation compared to Victorias 1 through 3, but it still doesn't look quite right at some angles.
* A lot of the newer characters are built using Genesis/G2/G3 figures as a base, but some of the older ones just did NOT look right when Cent tried to rebuild them using the newer base figures.
Yes I know from experience what that is like. I just wasted 3 months trying to up-convert Liberty Lass from G2 to G3. Moving from V4 to G2 or 3 would be even more brutal.
Is there intended to be a distinction between "gene-printing" a replacement heart composed of tissue and "cloning" a heart? If they are different, presumably cloning would use actual cells from Acantha as the original seed stock and take much longer than using whatever 'gene-printing' is to customize an already existing tissue heart blank. Or they could just be two words for the same thing; but, Dr. Smolens used one term, and Lynn is using the other, so I am wondering if there are any story implications?
Keep in mind my weird habit of being aggravatingly realistic when it comes to dialogue; Lynn is being imprecise in her wording.
As you surmise:
- Genetic imprinting involves taking a ready-built tissue framework and "customizing" it with the patient's genetic code. The "blank" is tested and confirmed as functional even before it's customized. The patient will need to be on anti-rejection medication for a period of time to ensure the body does not attack the new organ; it is a perfect genetic match, but the "blank" tissues may trigger an immune response. This option is the standard for most short-notice transplant cases.
- Cloning involves growing the tissue "from scratch" with the patient's cells; this takes considerably longer, and there's a chance that the cloned organ will not be properly functional. However, a cloned organ is accepted by the patient's body from the word go, so no anti-rejection regimen is required. This is the preferred option when the timetable allows it.
I rather thought Lynn might be speaking "casually", but thank you for confirming.
Hypothetically, gene-printing could even use some kind of retrovirus to progressively replace the 'blank's' DNA with the owner's DNA. The first time period would represent the time needed for the conversion to proceed far enough that post-implantation rejection is manageable with medication. Theoretically (given sufficiently advanced magic tech) the process could continue until not only the DNA, but the cellular proteins had been replaced through organic cellular renewal processes, at which point there would be no need for any anti-rejection medication. Since the tissue cells which have the owner's DNA will be producing owner's proteins, and not 'blank' proteins.
That was my first thought as well. On the other hand, I guess that's why it's called gene-*im*printing, not gene-printing...
It might be preferable, since I suspect a purely 3D-printed organ still needs some artificial materials for structural soundness -- just glueing together pre-grown cells probably doesn't result in an equally solid structure as when they are naturally growing together...
Now if she worked in another profession, I'd say it's her choice -- but considering that a nurse is supposed to reassure patients, not freak them out, it seems an odd choice here. And it seems even even more odd choice to assign someone looking like that to Acantha, considering her cultural background...
It doesn't seem so odd to me. Acantha is used to androids that are very obviously not human. It seems like she'd be more comfortable with the weird skin and glowing eyes than some of the other androids that look perfectly human except for their eye color.
In a place like New Troy, I wouldn't think someone like Florence would be unusual in almost any setting. Everyone is used to androids and robots being the norm. Acantha is used to very distinctive appearances. I see no problem whatsoever.
@mjkj, I suspect Ada has finally gone to her debriefing. She probably won't be long.
Not really, they are guardians, and they never mistreated her. As it stands, they more or less work for her now. She has nothing to be worried about. She is well used to them being around. She has no reason to be upset. I think she will be more startled finding herself in New Troy!
While it's true that the Cassians are *her* hit squad now, she most likely doesn't realise that yet. (And once she does, it will take her a while to adjust her perception -- which I expect to be an interesting plot point...) Last thing she knew, Kali was fighting Dolly; and shortly before that, extra creepy Nox was after her. Waking up to another creepy android face is the last thing she needs right now.
Also, Kali indeed *did* mistreat her in the past -- see "Along came a Spider..". (Presently at
http://datachasers.thecomicseries.com/comics/368 ) Admittedly, this is old stuff: the introduction doesn't seem quite in line how the Cassians appear later. I guess it will be toned down at some point when these pages get redone -- but for now, it is still canon.
"Mistreat" is a debatable term, but I do think that, memory after trauma being the tricky thing that it is, it will be very difficult to predict Acantha's initial recollections and state of mind. We do know that she remembers shooting Decimus, since it is included in the memory fragments above.
Ironically, Noctis' outfit (tank top and scrub bottoms) may persuade her she must still be dreaming long enough for her to get an initial update on how things have changed. Noctis' introduction, in particular, holds the potential to be quite interesting, since we don't know what has been happening in Nova Roma all this time. (Has anyone even found the Roman Senate by now? Or are they all still in the bath rediscovering Archimedes' principles of buoyancy? ^_^)
I believe it can be safely said the Roman senate has been either A. Huddled in their safe rooms with their family and servants, B. Fleeing Nova Roma by any means possible (as rumors of currents events have spread), or C. Were out in the streets trying to curb the chaos and protect what could be saved.
I don't think Acantha is the type to lump everyone together like that. She has been around the Cassians far too long, I think, for her to automatically freak out. I think Florence will be low on her list of concerns.
edit: Yes @Gilrandir, I think you are right. She is likely to see Noctis, realize she is in bed, see Lynn, and wonder what exactly happened. She has a few previous memories, and trying to connect the dots in trying to figure out how it unfolded to where she is now, might be a lot to parse.
@antrik ? wow you have a skewed view of "mistreat" .!?? ,, by Kali no less ,,
and let me guess you DON'T have kids.!!?? cuz you never had to deal with " don't wanna." from a kid
Its not military time. I would also add that in the US all police, ems and likely hospital records are kept in 24h clock notation to remove any ambiguity about when a particular event occurred. every place with a ticketing system, time clocks can be set that way too.
Its yet another of the archaic forms and processes that we still use in the United States while everybody else has moved on like the metric system and daylight savings time. That last one nearly everyone, I've asked, dislikes. I can't imagine how much productivity is lost by the entire nation being groggy twice a year for a few days.
The military uses a 24 hour clock but there is no requirement that it matches the timezone where you are located or even that it is based on a particular timezone.
In Europe (or at least some parts of it), while official/public communications, day planners etc. generally use 24 hour clocks, AM/PM is still pretty common in casual speech. I don't think this will change any time soon, since traditional 12-hour clock dials are still prevalent for most wall clocks, watches, and many alarm clocks.
Also, the DST idiocy is present in almost all of Europe, and it doesn't look like this is about to change :-(
Totally agreed on units of measurement, though. If nothing else, that alone justifies the French Revolution ;-)
DST stands for Daylight STUPID Time, and is among the most idiotic things ever to come out of the US Congress (and yes, I do know how high a bar that is). It only makes sense if you don't understand the function of time-keeping to begin with.
Actually DST came from a Founding Father, one Benjamin Franklin. Yep Ben Franklin that damn near got throw out of France as our Ambassador for "Behavior Unbecoming a Gentleman".
That's mostly an urban legend. (According to Wikipedia at least...) While he did (anonymously) propose tongue-in-cheek measures to get Parisians to get up earlier in the morning, he didn't actually propose screwing with clocks.
In the military, we used the 24hr clock for clarity but in the Airforce, and to some extent the other services, all paperwork was done in 'Zulu' time (GMT)for a standard reference and to avoid confusion around time zones...any time the local time was used it was in the form of 1234L vice 1234Z
My guess would be that she feels that there is something missing. She is formidable without it, but it is something she always has with her. She also probably feels she would be a better protector with it, but that might be a secondary concern.
There's a whole lot of physics in rocket science as well. You need chemistry to get the right fuel mixtures, but then you need to deal with fuel flow, combustion chamber design, heat management, vibration dampening, aerodynamics, etc. There's a lot more to it than putting the right chemicals together to get thrust.
I remember awaking to having several tubes down my throat and being unable to talk. Boy, was I ever thirsty! I had to wait a couple of hours before they removed them. Had a scar down my center chest because they'd stapled my ribcage back together and glued my chest shut. It's been almost 2 years since my surgery 27 May 2015. I enjoy life a lot more now with this chance.
Legend has it that Miyamoto Musashi would duel with nothing but a wooden practice sword. He killed his foes by striking them in a particular spot and angle on the shoulder, driving bone shards down into the heart.
Imagine facing purportedly the best swordsman in a duel, he shows up late, charging out of the surf while shouting, and he's only armed with a WOODEN sword.
As I understand it (from a friend who studied the history), that's not legendary, there was an actual incident where it happened (it was actually an oar, sanded down to basic sword shape, and no special striking technique or anything).
And really, you don't have to have any special knowledge or hit some special place... a large blunt object is quite sufficient without any of that. Heck, a good solid hit to the head can do it.
Given the focus of the Japanese culture on honor, it might be even worse, though, if he failed to show up at all, rather than merely being late, drunk, and wielding a weapon lacking honorable history. If you were so unworthy he didn't even bother to show up, then you might be forced to commit seppuku, and then imagine the Variety headline afterwards ...
I seem to remember that nudity isn't really a big deal for the Cassians, and Noctis doesn't strike me as the type to get overly upset about insults. That seems like an easy trade for the sword.
Florence's chassis doesn't match any of the examples from the tech pages. (But then, neither did Francine's.) The crudity of it, the open seams, and the very distinctive eyes all (in my opinion) argue for Florence being an advanced positronic robot. On the other hand, the distinctive colored speech balloon, clothing, complex dialogue and initiative suggest that she is a synthbrained android in a chassis that might be the equivalent of a model 2 or a model 3A -- in which cosmetics have been sacrificed for economy and utility.
There are many other possible explanations, but most of them would seem to depend on Florence somehow being 'special' in some unique way such that the general principles don't apply to her. Guess we'll just have to wait and see what is revealed. The argument against it being solely a tool-driven decision on the part of the artist is that it seems likely the artist had all the DAZ models used to build the Tech page in the first place available to her. ^_^ She chose this one instead.
Lynn should be a good friend and wait until she can watch those with Acantha. They already determined they share that interest.
And this, fellas and gals, is why Anesthesiologists get the big bucks. They, in essence, put you in suspension so you don't feel pain and stay still so the surgeon can do his or her thing. Having gone under the knife myself, I can appreciate their skills. My hat's off to the dude who invented anesthesia too.
I never forgot that, GOD bless him!
Lynn is letting her impatience show. Both her and Noctis are concerned that Acantha is okay. Florence is doing a good job of allaying their concerns! She is a good use for this model . . fitting.
I was I impatient too, HiFranc, you are not alone! :)
Actually she probably doesn't look really well in any outfit using light colours (including the one she is wearing now): black suits her complexion much better :-)
(Other strong colours -- such as a dark blue for example -- might work too, though.)
Unless that is a piece of medical equipment at the foot of the bed under the blanket.
They're usually about as long, as from the hips to the tip of the head - So this looks ´just about right.
Just a general artistic/modeling/rendering question... In the last frame, Lynn's shoulders look slightly raised/elevated from where they'd be in a relaxed position, and the body-to-shoulder crease looks high. (Not complaining or criticizing)... and I've seen this exact same issue in some of the character renderings in other comics and even some PC games, where it just looks like the joint is 'folded' kinda strange. Is that a limitation of the skeletal system or is that some other type of artifact?
Again- not criticizing or anything, quite curious as to what challenges are involved in the model construction/positioning and what fine-tuning options you have as an artist. :-)
Enjoying the strip. Keep up the good work! (Oh, and all of the puns, especially the egg ones... I never knew Tokyo Rose was such a punster!)
* A lot of the newer characters are built using Genesis/G2/G3 figures as a base, but some of the older ones just did NOT look right when Cent tried to rebuild them using the newer base figures.
As you surmise:
- Genetic imprinting involves taking a ready-built tissue framework and "customizing" it with the patient's genetic code. The "blank" is tested and confirmed as functional even before it's customized. The patient will need to be on anti-rejection medication for a period of time to ensure the body does not attack the new organ; it is a perfect genetic match, but the "blank" tissues may trigger an immune response. This option is the standard for most short-notice transplant cases.
- Cloning involves growing the tissue "from scratch" with the patient's cells; this takes considerably longer, and there's a chance that the cloned organ will not be properly functional. However, a cloned organ is accepted by the patient's body from the word go, so no anti-rejection regimen is required. This is the preferred option when the timetable allows it.
Hypothetically, gene-printing could even use some kind of retrovirus to progressively replace the 'blank's' DNA with the owner's DNA. The first time period would represent the time needed for the conversion to proceed far enough that post-implantation rejection is manageable with medication. Theoretically (given sufficiently advanced magic tech) the process could continue until not only the DNA, but the cellular proteins had been replaced through organic cellular renewal processes, at which point there would be no need for any anti-rejection medication. Since the tissue cells which have the owner's DNA will be producing owner's proteins, and not 'blank' proteins.
I thought "gene printing" meant running cultured cells, taken from a bio-reactor, through a 3D printer. Something we're working on today.
Of course, I don't know how a 3D printer's supposed to align tissues. Striated and Cardiac muscle needs to lay a certain way to really be useful.
Of course, populating a bleached "scaffolding" organ with tissue is also something we're working on today.
It might be preferable, since I suspect a purely 3D-printed organ still needs some artificial materials for structural soundness -- just glueing together pre-grown cells probably doesn't result in an equally solid structure as when they are naturally growing together...
The interaction between her and Noctis - priceless... =D
...Noctis is really looking great... =D
...and Florence having dark pink hair... are you trying to tell us something...?
I wonder though where Ada is...
@alt text: ...of course she would watch that - it is tradition after all... ;)
The Nightingale does not have black plumage.
Time for a new theory.
Now if she worked in another profession, I'd say it's her choice -- but considering that a nurse is supposed to reassure patients, not freak them out, it seems an odd choice here. And it seems even even more odd choice to assign someone looking like that to Acantha, considering her cultural background...
@mjkj, I suspect Ada has finally gone to her debriefing. She probably won't be long.
Also, Kali indeed *did* mistreat her in the past -- see "Along came a Spider..". (Presently at
http://datachasers.thecomicseries.com/comics/368 ) Admittedly, this is old stuff: the introduction doesn't seem quite in line how the Cassians appear later. I guess it will be toned down at some point when these pages get redone -- but for now, it is still canon.
Ironically, Noctis' outfit (tank top and scrub bottoms) may persuade her she must still be dreaming long enough for her to get an initial update on how things have changed. Noctis' introduction, in particular, holds the potential to be quite interesting, since we don't know what has been happening in Nova Roma all this time. (Has anyone even found the Roman Senate by now? Or are they all still in the bath rediscovering Archimedes' principles of buoyancy? ^_^)
edit: Yes @Gilrandir, I think you are right. She is likely to see Noctis, realize she is in bed, see Lynn, and wonder what exactly happened. She has a few previous memories, and trying to connect the dots in trying to figure out how it unfolded to where she is now, might be a lot to parse.
and let me guess you DON'T have kids.!!?? cuz you never had to deal with " don't wanna." from a kid
Here for instance, 16:00 would be the normal way to express what you would call 4PM.
Its yet another of the archaic forms and processes that we still use in the United States while everybody else has moved on like the metric system and daylight savings time. That last one nearly everyone, I've asked, dislikes. I can't imagine how much productivity is lost by the entire nation being groggy twice a year for a few days.
The military uses a 24 hour clock but there is no requirement that it matches the timezone where you are located or even that it is based on a particular timezone.
And the AM/PM is just .. weird.
Also, the DST idiocy is present in almost all of Europe, and it doesn't look like this is about to change :-(
Totally agreed on units of measurement, though. If nothing else, that alone justifies the French Revolution ;-)
Well may still be coming.
You could scar young kids for life with something like that!!
Imagine facing purportedly the best swordsman in a duel, he shows up late, charging out of the surf while shouting, and he's only armed with a WOODEN sword.
And really, you don't have to have any special knowledge or hit some special place... a large blunt object is quite sufficient without any of that. Heck, a good solid hit to the head can do it.
"GORE IN NO SHOW". ^_^
Also weird to see Noctis in normal clothes. XD
Noctis in a patient gown ....
Or maybe a Godzilla onesie Pajamas ?
Noctis could rock a onesie. :)